Early strategic control of the game was widely perceived as resting in the hands of Brad Culpepper and Aras Baskauskas on their respective tribes. Both, however, were overthrown in the middle stages of the game, after which point an alliance controlled by returning players Tyson Apostol, Monica Culpepper and Gervase Peterson rose to post-merge dominance. Though Ciera Eastin and Hayden Moss mounted a determined effort to fracture this alliance, their efforts were foiled and Tyson won the title of Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote over Monica and Gervase.

Twists

Returning Players: In mid-May 2013, it was revealed that this season would feature returning players.[5]

Blood vs. Water: Players will be paired with a competing family member or loved one on the cast. Every castaway will be playing individually, so they will remain in the game even if their family member is voted out. This season, the pairs will be comprised of returning players and their loved ones, where the returnees would be put in one tribe, while all of their loved ones would be put in another.[6]

Day Zero: A day before the actual game starts, the 10 pairs will be sent out at sunset to 10 different locations to live by themselves for the night, under the notion that the pairs will be placed in the same tribe. They will then all meet up to be officially welcomed by host Jeff Probst and start the game the next morning.[7]

Redemption Island: Anyone voted out will be sent there and will then compete in a three-person duel. The last place finisher in each contest is out of the game for good, while the top two remain. However, if someone's loved one is on Redemption Island they can take their loved one's place before a duel.

Hidden Immunity Idol: The person who finishes first in each duel will also get to give a clue to the location of a Hidden Immunity Idol to any person from either tribe that they choose. If a castaway wins a game-returning duel, the castaway could also keep the clue for his or herself.

Tribe Switch: On Day 14, the remaining castaways randomly drew for new tribes.

Season Summary

The castaways were pre-divided into two tribes of ten: Galang, comprised of returning players, and Tadhana, the returning players' loved ones. Before the tribes were sent to their camp, they were asked to eliminate one of their own immediately, where Laura Boneham and Candice Cody were voted out from their respective tribes. They were then informed that Redemption Island was in play, with the added twist that a player could take their partner's spot on Redemption Island. Shockingly, Rupert Boneham decided to switch with Laura B., sending Rupert to Redemption Island and sending Laura B. to Galang.

Tadhana lost the first four consecutive challenges, and was initially dominated by the Five Guys Alliance led by Brad Culpepper. Brad's decision to blindside his ally John Cody resulted in Brad's subsequent elimination and the end of the men's alliance. Meanwhile, at Galang, Aras Baskauskas created the Galang Five, an alliance which approached a no-strategy strategy. When the Galang tribe eventually went to Tribal Council after finally losing at the fifth challenge, Aras spearheaded the elimination of Laura Morett in hopes that she could eliminate Brad from Redemption Island to ensure Monica Culpepper's loyalty to the alliance. The plan was successful, and Laura M. returned to the game at the merge.

The tribes eventually merged to the Kasama tribe with 11 castaways remaining, including three pairs of loved ones: Aras and his brother Vytas Baskauskas, Tina Wesson and her daughter Katie Collins, and Laura M. and her daughter Ciera Eastin. While Aras led the charge against Laura M. again, a recently formed alliance originally from the post-Tribe Swap Tadhana tribe, which included Monica and Laura M., planned to eliminate the pairs in the game as all of them are "singles" and eliminate their threat. This alliance was able to blindside Aras, and managed to vote out Vytas and Tina later on, before betraying Laura M. for being the stronger member of the final intact pair.

With no pairs remaining, the new players outnumbered the returnees four to three, but the new players' attempt to seize control was foiled by Ciera, who sided with the returnees. However, with six players left, she had a change of heart, switching allegiances and forcing a tie which was resolved through the rock drawing tiebreaker, a tiebreaker only last seen during the fourth season, which resulted in Katie's elimination. This allowed the returning players alliance of Tyson Apostol, Monica, and Gervase Peterson to take control, voting out the others and making it to the end of the game.

At the Final Tribal Council, Gervase was berated by the jury for his perceived rudeness and hiding behind more dominant players, while Monica was castigated for threatening to flip to the other alliance but ultimately never following through. This led the jury to award Tyson the title of Sole Survivor, receiving seven of the eight votes to win, and Monica receiving one.

^1John's vote was not revealed as Laura B. already had enough votes to be voted out.^2Gervase's vote was not revealed as Candice already had enough votes to be voted out.^3As per the Blood vs Water twist, Rupert opted to send himself to Redemption Island so Laura B. can take his place on Galang.^4Colton quit the game before the Redemption Island duel was held.^5Tribal Council resulted in a tie. Per the rules, a second vote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie.^6Tyson used a Hidden Immunity Idol, but no votes were cast against him.^7A deadlock tie occurred, thus forcing the non-tied players to make an open discussion as who should be voted out. Because no consensus was met after the deadlock, Hayden and Monica became safe, forcing Ciera, Katie and Tyson to draw rocks, where the player who got the odd-colored rock was eliminated instead.^8Katie drew the only white rock, and was sent to Redemption Island.^9Tyson played a Hidden Immunity Idol for Gervase, negating all votes cast against the latter.^9This contestant re-entered to the game through Redemption Island.

The US Survivor franchise is the second version to adapt a couples format, following the Philippine version, which had pairs of celebrities, each with a pre-existing relationship.

Instead of revealing the location during the previous season's Reunion Show, Jeff showed a clue, which was a short clip of blood spreading in water. The second promo was the same as the first, only with the season logo shown for a split second afterwards.

Despite the fact that the first four people voted out were all women, the first two players eliminated were men.

This is the second season that is filmed in another location within a previous host country. Survivor: The Amazon and Survivor: Tocantins were both filmed in Brazil, albeit in different locations; namely, Rio Negro and Rio Novo, respectively.